@1wza+1sXiXn29 nailed it! late to the AI LLM and cloud party:
"Nobody wants SAS's products anymore. So even if SAS does a great job at "infusing" AI into it's products, they will still be cr-ppy products, built on a flawed architecture and an antiquated programming language, that does stuff that open source does better and for much less cost."
Will SAS develop an AI to constantly s**t-talk your coworkers all day long while accomplishing no actual work and having no technical knowledge developed more recently than punch cards? If so, you could replace 80% of the employees, and give a massive boost to productivity! Go AI!
SAS was late to the Cloud party, but not to the AI LLM party — at least, no later than Google and Apple and others. ChatGPT caught most companies by surprise.
The problem is, even if SAS does a great job at "infusing" AI into it's products — and even assuming those are GREAT products — that won’t do much to increase revenues.
SAS is correct to “infuse” AI, because that has become a requirement. Every company is building chatbots, natural-language-to-SQL, etc. But that level of AI is not a differentiator; it’s table stakes.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40673039
That links to a great discussion, thank you.
SAS has its own problems of course, but some in common with the tech industry as a whole. Our industry over-hired during the good times, and over-used Agile methodologies.
Both trends brought in poorly qualified people — “a deluge of nontechnical positions”. Not surprisingly, this resulted in poorly built products.
Over-hiring is a normal part of the business cycle that self-corrects during recessions. We are already seeing the beginnings of this, with layoffs throughout the tech industry.
This makes it difficult to move from SAS, or from any company. “There just aren't that many opportunities around.” Many people will have to hunker down where they are, or switch fields entirely, as the business cycle plays out.
Replacing Agile is a much harder problem. Better methodologies are available. But non-technical managers prefer Agile because it gives them the illusion of control.
Hey, give SAS a break! Each summer they get new interns for the Art Department (which is safe). The company needs to snazz-up the products that nobody is buying. At least it makes for great internal Kabuki!
Running out of things to talk about but it is the same all across the industry…
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40673039
“I am apathetic about the entire industry, as a consultant. Everybody is working on bullsh-t products that have no relevance whatsoever with the real world, overcomplicated with bullsh-t techniques like morning standups and Zoom meetings that are a total waste of time.”
“I feel like over the last year a lot of people around me have reached the point where they would naturally start looking around at other opportunities. But there just aren't that many opportunities around. So I suspect people are just hanging about, collecting a paycheque and waiting for the right time to bounce.”
“The incompetence level in the industry has increased. In the past perhaps more people were close to being technical. Now there is a deluge of nontechnical positions and management layers that contribute nothing. This increases cynicism.”
and so on…
we've said it all and are running out of things to talk about
Wow thanks for starting a new thread stating exacting what somebody already said.